Daily Archives: November 7, 2014

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07.11.2014 Stereotypes about Rroma in Ireland

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On the occasion of a racist mob in Waterford that agitated against Rroma at the end of October, McCarthy (2014) conducted a social experiment: She disguised herself as a Romni beggar in order to understand the experiences of marginalised people. The social experiment that was designed with good intentions, unfortunately prompts McCarthy to spread numerous stereotypes and misinformation about Rroma: she considers that all, or many Rroma, are poor and are beggars. In addition, she uncritically makes allusions to organised begging gangs, human trafficking and arranged child marriages. That a considerable proportion of the Rroma are not poor and criminal, but lead normal existences, remains unmentioned: “As a Romani in Dublin, you are either completely ignored or asked to move along. It’s no news to them to be treated poorly. It has defined their existence throughout history. They were expelled or enslaved, sentenced to torture and death, segregated and discriminated against pretty much ever since they were brought to Europe from northwestern India and Pakistan. They never identified themselves with a territory. They don’t have a distant homeland or any rights to national sovereignty anywhere. The world’s true travellers, on the fringes of society, they are a cultural enigma to the rest of the conforming, technologically-savvy world. In many cases they don’t own anything like social security numbers or credit cards.” In the UK, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 90,000 to 120,000 Rroma. The majority of them is integrated, goes to work, and is sedentary. However, in the in recent months and years, right-wing populist parties and the media have spread fears of a mass immigration of Eastern European Rroma, which would allegedly abuse the British social welfare system and do not want to integrate.

Thompson (2014) conveys a more nuanced notion of the Rroma in Ireland. But also her portrait of a Rromni who has been living in the country for fourteen years, is permeated by stereotypes: Gaby Muntean works as a social worker in her community and speaks of the economic hardships that she and her husband faced at the beginning of their immigration. For a long time, they could not find any work and had to rely on the solidarity of their acquaintances. Aside from this stereotype, who mistakenly equates Rroma with educational alienation and poverty, Muntean also points to the Rroma living integrated, of whom many have the Irish nationality.

  1. McCarthy, Barbara (2014) My day on the streets as a Roma. In: Irish Independent online vom 2.11.2014. http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/my-day-on-the-streets-as-a-roma-30710575.html
  2. Thompson, Sylvia (2014) Behind The News: Anti-Roma protests in Waterford. In: The Irish Times online vom 1.11.2014. http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/behind-the-news-anti-roma-protests-in-waterford-1.1983698
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07.11.2014 Rroma as losers of the 1989 turnaround

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Mappes-Niediek (2014) reports on marginalised Rroma in Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia. He emphasises that it is not primarily the repeatedly criticised discrimination, but primarily the economic exclusion, the sometimes poor qualifications or the lack of relationships in the world of employment that keep Rroma marginalised. However, he disregards that there are Rroma who are well educated, but are not perceived as members of the minority. Also, not all Rroma have many children, as the Rromni he portrays: “As the world suddenly began to spin faster, Elena Costache was 34 years old. She lived with her husband and nine children in a house with four rooms in the Bucharest district Ferentari. She had a steady job in a bindery, where she packed the shipping goods. Then everything went quickly. The bindery was forced to close. Her husband also lost his job […]. That they are Roma or, as they say here, Țigani – Gypsies – for Elena, Cristina and Gheorghe is not worth a thought, besides their many problems. Nevertheless, their fate has to do with their ethnicity – though not as the simplifiers try to make believe. […] After the turnaround, the number of jobs fell to less than a half. Million industrial workers were attracted from the cities to the countryside, where the state refunded them the house with a hectare of arable land, which had once belonged to their grandparents. Many remained there and still live almost without money, only living from their plots. About ten percent of the population got nothing from the land distribution. Not because they wanted to discriminate against them, but because even their grandparents didn’t have any. The Roma were slaves in Romania since the Middle Ages, and were not allowed to own land.” Mappes-Niediek show that it is no general racism, which keeps the excluded Rroma at the margins of society, but that it is a combination of sometimes historically low professional qualifications with an economic marginalisation, which makes it difficult to break out of the spiral of poverty. However, it must be emphasized that Mappes-Niediek only portrays the marginalised Rroma, and therefore mistakenly equates the minority with an underclass. However, Rroma in South-eastern Europe – with the exception of Romania –have been integrated for centuries and are found in all professions.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

07.11.2014 Marseille: Didier Réault sentenced for demagogic statement

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Didier Réault, assistant to the mayor of Marseille, was sentenced to a fine of 1000 Euros on probation. The local politician had called on Twitter to throw Molotov cocktails at a local Rroma settlement. The offender was also sentenced to pay an indemnity of 600 Euros to the organisation Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples (Mrap), which had charged Réault as a private plaintiff: “The sentence has been pronounced. More than a year after he had published a tweet in which referred to the Roma camp in the north, Didier Réault was sentenced on Thursday. The judiciary has found him guilty of “having inciting hatred, discrimination and violence.” It also sentenced the UMP assistant of the mayor to a fine of 1000 Euros on probation, and prompted him to pay 600 Euros in damages to the organisation “Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié of peuples (Mrap)”. The latter represents the private plaintiff. On June the 8th, 2013, Didier Réault republished a first call of throwing Molotov cocktails in the context of a Roma camp in the north of Hellemmes. The deputy wrote: “See you soon in Marseille for the same action”, making an allusion to a Roma camp in the 10th arrondissement of Marseille” (Planet 2014). Didier Réault is not an isolated case. Repeatedly, various politicians in France have been sentenced for racist remarks on Rroma. Their unreflective statements reverberate the one-sided image of the minority in the French public, dominated by prejudices (compare 20 Minutes France 2014 Rasteau 2014).

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

07.11.2014 Jacques Toubon demands the enrolment of all children in schools to the mayors

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De Germon (2014) reports on a recent statement of Jacques Toubon, the state responsible for the defence of rights. Toubon criticised in his statement the lack of commitment by numerous French mayors in ensuring the school enrolment of all children, especially the displaced Rroma children. Integration begins first of all with education, he stated. To deprive the children of it, would be a step in the wrong direction. The occasion for Toubon’s critique is the fate of the children from the former Rroma camp in Bobigny, which was evicted in late October. Almost all Rroma children had been enrolled before the eviction, but now only a small part goes to school: “The prefecture provided enormous resources, in order that this operation would become a “model” of its kind. But at the end of the holidays, the families, the organisations and the prefecture, at least agreed about one thing: that the result is very bad. Jacques Toubon, defender of rights, has commented on this expulsion on France Info at Tuesday. “One must remember that the institution of legal defence is at the origin of what 2012 was decided by the Minister of the Interior: that is, a circular on the circumstances in which one must evacuate the camps, and the circumstances in which, according to the social plan, one must accommodate and treat the evacuees.” Although several things were done in accordance with the circular in Bobigny, Jacques Toubon notes nonetheless that there is a point that still does not satisfy. That is the implementation of compulsory education. It is a subject about which the defender of rights was always firm.” The camp was very old and the majority of the children were enrolled in school. Since the evacuation, they are all without schooling. A situation that is unacceptable.” The uncompromising evictions are an expression of a failed social policy by the French state, which does not rely on integration and support, but on exclusion and expulsion. In addition, by the media focus on informal settlements the impression is created that there are only Rroma belonging to the lower class, who are poorly educated. However, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, 100,000 to 500,000 Rroma live integrated and unobtrusively in French society. They belong to all social strata and are completely ignored by the French public. The Rroma who recently immigrated to France from Eastern Europe, and live in informal settlements – about 15,000 to 20,000 people – only account for a minority of the minority of all Rroma in France.

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07.11.2014 Greece: perpetrators of racist attacks on Rroma convicted

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Amnesty International (2014) reports about the conviction of three men who, for racist reasons,  brutally attacked a Rromni and her nephew in Greece. The men were sentenced to prison terms of eighth months each. Amnesty International offered free legal assistance to the victims. Since the economic crisis and euro crisis right-wing extremist groups like the “Chrysi Avgi” party (Golden Dawn) have enjoyed increasing popularity: ““These convictions are only the first step to justice. Equally important is that the court now recognises the racist motive behind this crime,” said Giorgos Kosmopoulos, Amnesty International’s expert on Greece, who observed the trial. Paraskevi Kokoni and her nephew were punched, kicked and beaten with logs by a group of local men while they were out shopping in the town of Etoliko, western Greece. Paraskevi told Amnesty International that she was singled out as a relative of a local Roma leader. The attack took place amid a series of vicious racist raids on Roma families by groups chanting anti-Roma slogans and threats in the same town between August 2012 and January 2013. In a separate case last month, those attacks were attributed to members and supporters of Golden Dawn in Etoliko.” Rroma are largely organised egalitarian. So-called “Rroma leaders”, as they are mentioned in this article, have mainly representative character. In Greece, there are an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 Rroma, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation. Many of them have education, work, and have their own homes. Rroma belong to all social classes, but are indeed particularly affected by poverty and discrimination.

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07.11.2014 German Bundestag adopts measures against “poverty immigration”

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Scholz (2014) reports on the adoption of measures by the German parliament, which shall limit the so-called “poverty immigration”. The ambivalent term was mistakenly repeatedly equated with a Rroma mass immigration in the political and media debate. However, the critical analyses did not detect any mass exodus from Romania and Bulgaria to Germany. In addition, there also immigrated ethnic Bulgarians and Romanians, as well as well-qualified workers. Despite this context, the Bundestag has decided on a set of measures that shall make immigration unattractive to low-skilled migrants. The movement of persons is not affected by the decision: “The right of residence for job search is limited to six months. In case of abuse, one has to face three years imprisonment or a fine. Municipalities receive onetime 25 million Euros by the federal government as a relief. Re-entry bans are now generally limited ex officio, and not only following request. Child benefit is paid only upon presentation of a tax number, to avoid double payments. Vaccinations for children and young people are paid by the statutory health insurgence. Undeclared work shall be combated by better data exchange between authorities. However, there will be no immigration quotas for citizens of EU states in Germany.” Along with the debate on the so-called “poverty immigrants”, there also was an in depth discussion on the situation of the Rroma in South-eastern Europe. There was no agreement among the various parties about the situation of the Rroma minority. While some pointed to the strong ghettoisation of the Rroma, disregarding integrated Rroma, others emphasised the discrimination against the minority. Also in this point, there was no agreement on whether Rroma are politically persecuted – therefore are systematically discriminated against – or are “only” exposed to everyday discrimination. In conjunction with the discussion on the status of safe countries of origin, the viewpoint prevailed that Rroma are affected by severe poverty, but are not affected by political persecution in South-eastern Europe. However, very one-sided and distorted ideas about the culture of the Rroma, based more on prejudice than on critically questioned knowledge continue to circulate. The debate barley every addressed the 110’000 to 130’000 Rroma that have been living integrated in Germany for generations.

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07.11.2014 European Commission threatens legal actions against the Italian government for discrimination against Rroma

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The Local (2014) reports on an admonition of the European Commission to the Italian government. The commission threatens judicial proceedings for the infringement of the anti-discrimination law, because Rroma in Italy are still strongly disadvantaged: in Italy, special, supervised camps for Rroma were built that allow their precise control: “The EU’s executive arm has reportedly requested information on Roma accommodation in Italy, the only country in Europe to build camps specifically for the Roma community. Drawing on La Barbuta camp in Rome, the Commission said it was concerned about Italy housing people “on a very remote and inaccessible site, fenced in with a surveillance system”. Such a scheme “seriously limits fundamental rights of those concerned, completely isolating them from the surrounding world and depriving them of the possibility of adequate work or education,” the Commission letter said, according to 21 luglio [a Rroma rights organization].”  In Italy, according to assessments of the Rroma Foundation, there are an estimated 90,000 to 110,000 Rroma. Many of them have good educations, go to work and have their own homes. Rroma belong to all social classes, but are indeed particularly affected by poverty and discrimination. Since the euro and economic crisis, various parties exploit them as scapegoats for social ills. As in France, the public image of the minority is characterised by extreme prejudices and misinformation: in the minds of many Italians, Rroma are synonymous with the residents of camps in the suburbs. The aspect of social exclusion is largely hidden.

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

07.11.2014 Cserdi: Mayor creates jobs for Rroma

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Ozsváth (2014) reports on the local politics of the Hungarian mayor László Bogdán. The head of the community of Cserdi strives for a social policy, in which the unemployment rate is as low as possible and the work ethic as high as possible. László Bogdán, who is himself a Rrom, has significantly reduced the unemployment rate through his active economic policy: “I am mayor since 2006”, says the feisty 41-year-old, “before we had approximately 200 burglaries a year, today there is only a third of it. […]. We now have a recreation home at the Lake Balaton, 20 acres of woods, we build vegetables on 15 acres, and have 3,000 square meters of greenhouses. “As the first action, Bogdán closed the local pub; he built a bridge between the non-Roma and Roma neighbourhoods, induced the construction of houses, and most importantly: he brought his citizens to work through public funding. “I do not believe in democracy, in which one queues for welfare, but not for work”, he says. […] Also, in the minds of the other Hungarians – the non-Roma – the mayor of Cserdi wants to change something: together with villagers he drives to Budapest and distributes food from its own surplus to the needy. […] For the mayor of Cserdi, it is about helping, but also about the headline: Roma help the poor.” With young Rromni from humble origins, Bogdán goes to the University, to show them alternatives to the professional life of their parents. In Hungary, there are 600,000 to one million Rroma. They belong to all social strata. Not all are marginalised and poorly educated, as it is usually suggested in the media. By continuing prejudices against the minority, they are in fact particularly affected by discrimination and exclusion, in the working environment and in education.

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Switzerland News Western Europe

07.11.2014 Asylum application: Rroma from Miskolc travel back to Hungary

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Wacker (2014) reports on the whereabouts of the 65 Rroma who had applied for asylum in Switzerland two weeks ago. The Rroma were displaced from their homes by the city government of Miskolc because of the construction of a parking lot for a football stadium. While the city government pointed out that the persons affected were financially compensated upon presentation of a valid rental contract, journalists and Rroma organisations refer to the racist motives of the responsible Fidesz-politicians. One wanted to get deliberately rid of the Rroma by an act of “ethnic cleansing”. Wacker comments: “In preliminary consultative talks, one explained these 65 persons their chances to asylum, states Léa Wertheimer by the Federal Office for Migration FOM. Following this, everyone decided to withdraw their asylum applications. 41 people have already left Switzerland. The other 24 will leave in the next few days. A few of them are paid some hundred francs for the journey home. The Roma had stated that the Hungarian authorities evicted them from their homes in their hometown Miskolc, to build a new stadium. Beat Meiner of the Swiss Refugee Aid believes that Switzerland has handled the procedures correctly, but warns: “The Roma have it very difficult in Hungary. Repeatedly, violence occurs against them, there have also already been dead persons.” The Swiss authorities insist that they have examined the cases individually. As an EU country, Hungary applies as a safe state in Switzerland anyway, Léa Wertheimer of the FOM explains. “This means that the state protection from persecution is basically guaranteed.” Rroma are not politically persecuted in Hungary. However, this does not mean that they are not affected by severe discrimination in everyday life, especially since the rise of the right-wing nationalist parties, which consciously elevate ethnic differences. This fact is not recognized by the Swiss asylum agency. The returning Rroma, among them many children, face an uncertain future (compare NZZ 2014, Odehnal 2014).

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